Hear, Hear. But what about:-
'Ear all, see all,
say nowt;Eyt all,
sup all, pay nowt;
And if ivver tha does owt fer nowt -Allus do it fer thissen.

^this^

At the end of the day, this is a forum...where folk give their views and opinions, and spread rumours about what they've heard on the grapevine.... Its not a meeting place for business analysts or strategists who are dealing in facts and if the aforementioned rumours, opinions, views and speculation really gets to people that much, perhaps they should consider not using the forum.

.....just my opinion.....

This

The OP makes some interesting points - on an internet message board incidentally - so it's rather pointless within that, to ask other people not to make their own points on the same internet message board.

The merger thread by the way, is not in any way intended to be unhelpful; I thought it was a very interesting and surprisingly grown-up discussion.

Spot on.

I don't know Mr. Carter personally, and have no desire to either, but I really hope he hasn't put his house on the line to rescue us from another mess.